Twixt Earth and Sky
by Elwen Skye
Summary: Everything seemed settled after the defeat of Tenkou, but something strange has happened between the two worlds, and old and new Seishi alike must work together to fix the mess. (Warning: lots of original characters and plot.)
1. Stirrings of Truth : The Bonds of Destin...

~ Fushigi Yuugi ~   
Twixt Earth and Sky   
  
by Elwen Skye

  


**Disclaimer:** Fushigi Yuugi belongs to Yuu Watase, Flower Comics, Viz Comics, Pioneer, and probably a lot of other big companies. I make no claims of ownership on the series or its characters. I write this fanfic merely for personal enjoyment and the entertainment of others, no profit is derived.   
  
**Warnings:** This story follows the anime storyline and includes spoilers for the entire TV series plus both OVAs.   
_O tanoshimi ni._

  


~ Chapter 1 ~

Stirrings of Truth   
The Bonds of Destiny

  


It was a lovely Sunday afternoon in Tokyo. A cool breeze blew in from the ocean to the east, and a bright sun shone overhead. The pleasant day matched the pleasant atmosphere of the lively business district. Sidewalks were crowded with happy but tired salarymen with the afternoon off, fully ready to head home to the family. Another percentage of the crowd consisted of family units, often pushing strollers with gurgling babies, heading to the park.

Nakagawa Shizue followed the flow of people from the office building where she interned, making her way to her apartment complex home. Still stretching out her cramps, she walked by a mirrored skyscraper, a roughly laid pile of cardboard near its wall. It looked like a layered, wind-carved sculpture before the smooth glass surface.

She stopped and backtracked to the pile. Something about it felt not quite right, but she couldn't place the hunch.

Cautiously, she lifted the corner of the top piece and inspected it, noting that it was actually a collapsed box, clean and ready for use. Each piece, however, was covered with fluid calligraphy, so stylized and full of kanji that she couldn't make it out. Frowning, she backed away from the pile, disrupting the flow of traffic on the sidewalk. Casting apologetic and embarrassed looks at the passersby, she made it to the curb and stared intently at the boxes through the gaps in the pedestrians. Slowly, they grew translucent, then disappeared.

'I knew it!' she thought triumphantly, and barged her way through the stream of people back to where the boxes had been. Firmly, she stepped into the vacated space. Then she waved to the people around her, "Excuse me! Um... hey!" But they continued onwards, oblivious or uncaring, still making their way around the area in which she stood.

The girl was definitely suspicious now as she considered what was happening. First, she saw a pile of cardboard that just disappeared. Second, other people still seemed to see it, and not see her. Third, she had actually _touched_ the stuff, which implied something beyond ordinary mirror illusions. She mused in disbelief, 'This is crazy. All the stress from work and school must have gotten to you, or someone spiked your juice at lunch.'

Just then, a voice drifted to her on the breeze. "Well now, who are you, girl, whose mind cannot be fooled?" There was a disdainful note to the voice, but also a faint trace of curiosity. It was so smooth and neutral that Shizue couldn't determine the gender of the speaker.

"Who's there?" she demanded, looking from side to side. But people merely walked by as if she was still invisible. Then she caught sight of a shadow on the sidewalk, so faint, like light through cellophane, but definitely there.

Knowing there would be nothing if she looked up, she continued to focus on the shadow, making out the details from between people's feet. The woman, or man, had long hair that fell to her knees. Sleeves hung past her waist, and the bottom edge of the jacket ended a bit beyond. There was something disturbingly familiar about her attire.

Not without foreboding, the teenager lifted her eyes. Her mouth went dry, and she whispered, "Tomo?"

For the third time, Shizue cut her way through the flowing crowds, this time completely ignoring the exclamations of surprise and the reproachful gazes. Finally, she stopped before a car, atop which stood the painted illusionist, whom she could now see with perfect clarity.

"Ah," he said. "You know my name as well. Might I know yours?"

"Nakagawa Shizue," she answered reflexively. Her mind was still unable to fully digest what she was seeing, and words tumbled from her lips. "Why... what... how can you be here? How can you be _real_?"

"What is real?" he asked philosophically, a smile playing on his lips. "All this could be a dream. An illusion." At the same time, Shizue noticed the partly opened clamshell in his hands, with little tendrils tracing out like smoke from incense. As he spoke, he suddenly clapped the shell shut, and the streamers disappeared.

The change in the flow of pedestrians was subtle, but once the rock was removed, they expanded to fill the entire width of the sidewalk. They pointedly ignored the girl standing and talking to a car.

"No one can see you but me," she deduced. "What's going on?"

"You might know better than I," he countered. "You know my name, when I know nothing of you. What makes you think I'm not 'real'?"

She opened her mouth to speak, then paused. What could she say? That he was a character from a book, a TV show. A _fictional_ character. That she knew all about him because a woman made him up, wrote about him. That in that story he died, so he doubly couldn't be here. "You're part of a story," she began. "A made-up story about Suzaku no Miko and her quest."

The Seishi's expression was hard to read under the mask of paint. "So this is indeed the world of Seiryuu no Miko," he murmured, more to himself than to the girl.

"Now will you answer my question?" she persisted. "What are you doing here?"

"I was testing my powers of illusion until you interrupted me."

"But... how did you get here in the first place?"

He shrugged. "I was over there one minute, here the next. Testing the Shin was the first thing I did."

"So it works. Except on me. And no one can see you, except me." She thought of something else. "Are you dead?"

The surprise was strong enough to show. "Yes." He summarized, "You can see through my illusion as well as perceive me when no one else can do either. That makes you _very_ special." There was something odd about the way he said it, but Shizue couldn't interpret his tone.

She thought quickly. Obviously this was going to take much longer to sort out than she had time to stand there and parley with a dead, fictional anime character standing on top of a car. "Okay, now what? Before someone reports me to the insanity ward."

He looked at her appraisingly. "We should move our conversation, if we care to continue at all."

"I'm willing to pursue this if you are." She noted that the superior tone had left his voice, even though he was still wary. She waited, then took his silence as consent. "Well, you'll just have to follow me home, then, because I have school tomorrow, and I simply don't have the time for anything else."

* * *

Shizue tucked into bed while reflecting on the events of the day. First she met Tomo on a random street in the business district, then he followed her home while relating the events that filled in her knowledge of his biography. Her own story was less enlightening to him, and neither could understand the significance of her ability to see him. Something about all of the events felt oddly _right_, and that sentiment frightened the girl more than any other: what could be more wrong than a fantasyworld character appearing only to her?!

"It must be nice to be a spirit," she murmured, squirming deeper into the blankets. "You don't have to eat or sleep, and no school either."

"It's not nice," was the flat reply. "You can't do anything but reflect on your life, reliving all those guilts and shames."

"And those triumphs and simple joys?" she added.

She felt him shrug in the darkness. "If you have such memories to relive."

"I believe everyone does . . . must. You just have to think harder," she said with an air of childish conviction, faith in something she knew nothing about. Sleep was overtaking her, and with the encroaching fog everything seemed to make sense. Her last words were a whispered, "_Oyasu hmm_..." as she exhaled contentedly.

The Seishi of Illusion sat silently in the darkness after the girl fell asleep, listening to the sound of her even breathing. He'd been given a lot of new information to think about it one day, after drifting as a spirit for seeming eternity with only his life to reflect upon, its monstrosity increasing each time.

Since his resurrection and second death, he had been largely disillusioned with his life as a Seishi. He had wondered if it might be better to be reborn without all the complications, until he realized that it was also his entire development and personality that got him into so much trouble. Bitterly hating himself and having no avenue of change, he tried to "sleep" and forget his troubles and his existence in general. That was until he found himself dumped in the world of Seiryuu no Miko.

Here, in this world, he was less than a character in the Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho; he was part of a story in which even the mighty book was a figment of imagination. At the same time, he was loved... no, not loved, worshipped, in the simplistic manner of people who have no inkling of the nature of their idol. 'I know all about that,' he thought bitterly, then closed off that section of his heart. There were too many painful memories and confused emotions there yet.

And what about his emotions now, towards this girl, Nakagawa Shizue? He had been taken completely off-guard by someone breaking through his illusion, by stepping into it, no less! As the two talked afterwards, he had begun to get a feeling from her, and he did not like it at all. It reeked of destiny, which had never brought him anything good.

The girl had come by just moments after his appearance in this world, something too convenient to write off as chance. And his had been a rapid capitulation, after a very short dialogue, to follow the girl home and still stick around now. Nothing kept him from floating off and never coming back but . . . but what? But destiny. He swore quietly.

The girl shifted in her sleep and muttered something that could be "Seiryuu", or "Seishi". She smiled for a moment, making her appear very young and vulnerable. Then she rolled over and her black hair curtained her features.

His idle thoughts while watching her confirmed Tomo's worst fears: someone was screwing with his emotions, to make him feel drawn to this girl, to make him stay. Or that's what he hoped, at least.

There was just no escape for a Seiryuu Seishi. He sighed and watched the moon rise and set as the girl beside him slept.

* * *

Shizue trudged home from school, knowing she had failed another test she couldn't afford. There had simply been no way she could stop thinking about Tomo, although she had been careful to make no mention to her friends about the amazing events of yesterday.

She entered the fourth floor apartment and dumped her bag by the entrance, taking off her shoes. "_Tadaima_!" she called out of habit, though her parents were never home to respond.

Tomo appeared, looking sulky -- hard to achieve in light of his make-up. "_Okaerinasai_," he mumbled.

"Oh!" she said. "You're still here. I thought you'd left when I didn't see you this morning."

"I can't," he muttered.

Total confusion swept across her face. "What do you mean by that?"

He shrugged. "Destiny won't let me, I suppose. Robs me of my willpower."

"Destiny? Willpower?"

"Obviously, we have some purpose together, and I'm not going anywhere until that's completed." Privately, he wondered if she was unaffected. It would be unfair if destiny only messed with _him_!

"Erm... okay..." she said, not knowing how to respond. "I guess we can only wait then... And in the meantime, I'm going to start my homework _right now_," she declared with resolve.

And with that, she bent to pick up her dropped books and marched to her room, skipping her customary afternoon snack. Tomo wondered if her stiffness was a result of her own ambivalence, or if he was simply imagining all of it. With a resigned glance at the wide city outside the window, he followed after the girl.

They didn't speak to each other the rest of the afternoon, Shizue for once focusing intensely on her studies, strictly catching herself every time her thoughts strayed. School subjects made so much more sense; it was easier to understand literature, solve word problems, explain scientific concepts, than to dwell even a moment on what Tomo had said.

After dinner, Shizue sat hunched over more homework, the lamp casting its golden glow on treacherous math problems that certainly didn't deserve such a benediction. Her concentration was finally wavering, and in her mind was a battle of the sines and cosines against her thoughts of destiny and Tomo. She could feel him sitting back there, at the edge of the bed, although he didn't really need to sit.

"Do you always wear make-up like that?" she suddenly asked from the middle of her homework. Idle musings slipped out when she tried to reign in the deeper ones.

"Eh?" With a look of concern, Tomo pulled out his Shin and used it like a mirror compact. He tapped his face delicately with a nail in places, then thrust his face to within millimeters of the surface his illusion had cast, angling his head in all directions. He looked up again, inspection complete. "Why? Do you think it's imperfect?" he asked, sounding more serious and more worried than he had since appearing.

The girl looked at him spastically. "It's not that," she said with a resigned expression. "You just look so much better without it," she confided honestly. "Most people wonder why you're so ashamed of that gorgeous face."

He stared at her for a moment, then narrowed his eyes. "Why should you care?" he asked haughtily. "You're the only one who can see me, so why should it matter?"

"No reason," she responded, a bit surprised by his violent reaction. "I just thought you might want to be aware of it. I guess it doesn't matter anymore, but you sure went through a lot of unnecessary work putting it on each morning, before."

"Looking pretty wasn't the only point of it," he said, not a little defensively.

"Oh forget it." And she let it drop.

A few moments passed before Tomo spoke again. "Do you really think... I should stop wearing make-up?" he asked tentatively.

". . . natural log of x plus nine . . . huh? Oh, uh, well, it's up to you, I guess." She turned back to her homework, switching attention as easily in one direction as the other.

Tomo simply sat, make-up untouched.

He stayed in the bedroom when Shizue left to take a shower, and he was still there when she returned. She noted his presence without comment, then resumed her homework. It seemed like both of them had accepted the fact that he was going to be there, whether they liked it or not, so she simply went about her business around him. He couldn't stand the thought of another night just sitting restlessly in her dark room, though.

He watched her get ready for bed, preparing a speech in his head, but it wouldn't come out. Her back was to him. He opened his mouth, once, twice, then closed it again. He silently sighed and drifted to the far corner of the room, defeated.

After turning off the lights, Shizue lay in bed, still with her back to the Seiryuu Seishi. She closed her eyes and let her thoughts wander, but inevitably they returned to the spirit near her.

It wasn't until he quietly called her name that she realized she'd been holding her breath. It was a few moments more before she understood why. Her ears sought confirmation of his presence: she'd been trying to hear him breathe.

'Spirits don't breathe. Guess that's another thing cast off with life,' she mused.

She thought to try something else and slowly, with her mind, she searched. She tried to push her awareness toward him, to reach out...

"ECCHI!" Tomo screamed, not un-femininely.

She bolted up, almost tearing the covers. Peering at him in the dark, she noted that he had his own faint blue glow. It would normally have made his face more ominous and regal, but not now.

"What in Seiryuu's name were you trying to do?!" he demanded, looking disheveled, as if he had actually been physically startled.

She looked at him with round eyes, no longer a trace of sleep to be found. "I didn't know I could actually do that..." she said, feeling her cheeks grow hot. "I mean, sense you like that. I thought your _ki_ was..."

"Gone when I died?" he completed. "No, Suboshi was silly to think that. _Ki_ is tied to the spirit, not the body. Only weak _ki_ would dissipate with death, and we Seishi are the opposite case. Our _ki_ is undetectable only when our concentration wavers, or we choose to actively conceal it."

She nodded, but internally she was slightly skeptical. After all, she hadn't even believed in spirits until yesterday. The concept of chi was just a superstition in her world. Struggling with the logical mess, she fell asleep.

Tomo stared at her face in the dark and ran his fingers over her hair, splayed across her pillow. He couldn't touch, but he could feel it: so soft, so long, so straight and perfect . . . like his, and a hand strayed unconsciously to a strand of his own hair. Her face, serene in sleep, was heart-shaped, with a gently pointed chin sloping slowly up to high cheekbones.

But for subtle nuances of gender and personality, she looked exactly like him, he realized, and wondered why he hadn't noticed before. He cast his Shin mirror again and touched his cheek. With a thought, his make-up was gone.

Now he stared at his plain face in the mirror. Shizue had called him gorgeous . . . had she noticed their similarities? He admit that she was attractive, and she in return; the compliments reflected back as easily as his face in the mirror.

He floated next to her bed, leaning against air. Sighing yet again, he settled in for another night, merely part of the long wait until that something happened for which destiny had set him up.

  


To be continued...

  


The original characters and situations in this work are copyright Elwen Skye. Please ask permission before reposting anywhere. Thank you.

Elwen Skye   
quethiril@twin-elements.com   
www.twin-elements.com

  


**Finished:** November 4, 2002   
**Updated:** August 30, 2003


	2. Adversity's Onslaught : The Legend Reawa...

~ Fushigi Yuugi ~   
Twixt Earth and Sky   
  
by Elwen Skye

  


**Disclaimer:** Fushigi Yuugi belongs to Yuu Watase, Flower Comics, Viz Comics, Pioneer, and probably a lot of other big companies. I make no claims of ownership on the series or its characters. I write this fanfic merely for personal enjoyment and the entertainment of others, no profit is derived.   
  
**Warnings:** This story follows the anime storyline and includes spoilers for the entire TV series plus both OVAs. This section contains hints of adult situations. Please exercise your own discretion in reading.   
_O tanoshimi ni._

  


~ Chapter 2 ~

Adversity's Onslaught   
The Legend Reawakens

  


Shizue sat on her bed by the window, a history book open in her lap. Instead of reading it, she pelted Tomo with a new series of questions about his past in the world of the Four Gods. Somewhere in her mind, she still hadn't accepted the fact that the events of the Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho could possibly be real, but she suspended disbelief for her curiosity's sake.

"So how exactly did you take over Kaen's body anyway?" she asked.

Tomo, sans make-up, looked thoughtful for a moment before replying. "In a sense, she became my _miko_: she accepted my spirit into her body and became able to use my powers. We merged, essentially, but each of us was still separate within the mind."

"So this was a volunteer kind of thing?"

"Possessing an unwilling host is extremely difficult. She was quite willing." He had an odd, slightly distasteful expression as he finished the sentence.

Noticing, Shizue asked, "Why the face?"

"Uh... no reason..." Now that he had taken off his make-up, the Seishi's blush was clear to see.

The girl smiled playfully at his discomfiture, but she didn't understand his embarrassment. She was silent for a moment, while unasked and unformulated questions hung in the air. A different thought occurred to her. "Hey, do you think any of the other Seishi would be here, too, since you are?"

"I thought about it, but I don't know any better than you do. I probably would have sensed the _ki_ of any Seiryuu Seishi nearby, but I'm not as sensitive to others as Nakago was."

"I see. I wonder why you are so special."

"I don't care, I just wish I wasn't."

Both individuals had changed over the course of their week together, but some things would always remain constant. Tomo was still flatly uncooperative anywhere destiny was involved. And Shizue was always focused on what could and needed to be done.

It was inevitable that the two had grown closer, considering their unique relationship. Yet there was always a small sense of distance that separated them; Shizue because of her practicality, Tomo perhaps because of his arrogance. All the same, it was a relatively comfortable, familiar sort of friendship-by-necessity.

"Okay... so there might be some other Seishi spirits out there somewhere. You think maybe they've figured something out?"

"I doubt it," Tomo sniffed.

"Maybe you should go and see anyway," she pressed.

He stared at her. "Are you trying to get rid of me?! ...but I cant leave anyways," he added gloomily.

"Er, yeah, sure. I never got that part. _Why_ can't you leave? Have you tried lately?"

And suddenly, Tomo realized that whatever inhibition he had felt before was now gone. He was free to leave . . . but it must still be part of destiny's designs, he thought sulkily.

"Fine, you're right," he said abruptly. "I am suddenly, amazingly able to leave. I bet I'll be back, though. Destiny has it all planned out."

"You know, you've got a really big, nasty grudge there," she called after him as he faded out.

* * *

The sense of being alone was unexpectedly oppressive. Shizue hadn't thought about the ramifications of being in constant company and then suddenly being deprived of that company. Now she wandered around the house that felt so empty, with her parents at work and herself forced to stay home and study. After the most recent F she brought home her parents had forced her to drop her job and several activities to give her more time to concentrate on schoolwork. But they didn't know about Tomo, and he was what had really been causing all the distraction.

As evening approached, Shizue walked into the kitchen to begin preparations for dinner. A false sense of normality seemed to settle, as Tomo hadn't really wandered out of her room very often; cooking was still a solitary pursuit.

But as she was setting the rice to cooking, Shizue suddenly felt another presence in the room. It wasn't Tomo, but somehow seemed grander . . . and darker. This time with a genuine twinge of fear, she turned to face the person.

"Nakago?!"

The named stood leaning against the kitchen doorway, watching her with a perfectly bland expression. It was getting dark, and Shizue had yet to turn on the lights, but his form, his armor, his cape, all were unmistakable.

Assuming he was looking for his compatriot, she began, "Tomo just left to--"

"Yes, so this is my opportunity," he interrupted, eyes narrowing.

"W-what?"

He took a step forward, and Shizue instinctively, unwillingly, took a step back.

"You don't know anything right now. Unfortunately, you will. So I have to neutralize you ahead of time."

"N-neutralize?" The girl realized that repeating him wasn't going to help her, but she was so surprised and terrified that she couldn't think straight.

"Nothing personal," Nakago said. And he raised his palm towards her. By now, Shizue had been backed against the far wall, and his gesture pinned her there. She had a moment to reflect on her life and death, until she realized he was undoing her skirt.

"Oh God, no..." she whispered hoarsely.

"Killing you would tangle the threads of destiny too much, unfortunately."

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed, and strained against the invisible bonds that held her in place. To the surprise of both, she burst free, and a white glow forced Nakago to jump back. Shizue felt a warmth and power flowing through her, comforting but as yet uncomprehended. Her right cheek was throbbing, and seemed to be the source of the light.

Still with his arm half-raised to shield himself, Nakago scowled at her. "So your Seishi powers have awakened. I should have guessed." He smiled coldly. "But that will not save you."

And he raised his palm again. Shizue could sense that this time there was concentrated effort behind it. The glow dimmed and the warmth faded, and she felt as if somehow the power was being _forced_ back . . . to wherever it had come from. It was not a very pleasant sensation, like the bloat after eating too much. She struggled, mentally, trying to focus her will on the mysterious power, but to no avail.

"No more interruptions," Nakago said, as the last of the glow disappeared, and with an easy gesture Shizue was lying helpless on the kitchen table. She could not resist this time as he undressed the both of them. She cried, silently, knowing that any protests would fall upon deaf ears.

As the Seiryuu Seishi positioned himself over her, she whimpered quietly and squeezed her eyes shut, as if she could block out what was happening. Her last tears traced slowly down her face.

She felt him thrust, but there was no pain, no invasion. She opened her eyes when she felt a tingling all over her body, as if she were blanketed in feathers.

"Tomo?" she whispered.

The illusionist lay atop her, shielding her body with his own spirt form. Which meant that Nakago was . . . She flushed. Best not to think about it.

"Lift your illusion, Tomo," the Seiryuu leader commanded. "If you have sated your perversion."

Shizue was in a position to watch the stricken look flicker across Tomo's face, penetrating his emotionless mask of paint, which he was wearing again. Something shimmered out of existence, almost imperceptible but for Shizue's heightened sensitivity the Seishi's illusions.

Nakago spoke again, now to Shizue, "You were . . . fortunate," he murmured, "this time. But as a Terran Seishi, be cautious of whom's vessel you choose to be." With that, he was gone.

The girl lay, blinking in the semi-darkness. "Terran Seishi? And vessel?" she asked pointedly.

Tomo sweatdropped. "It's not so demeaning... like I explained earlier about being a _miko_." 

She smiled weakly. "A Seishi that's a Miko... What is wrong with the world these days?"

"Worlds, you mean," a voice rasped. Another shadow had appeared in the room.

"Taiitsukun!" Shizue exclaimed. "How can you be here?" 'Same as anyone else from the Tenchisho can be here,' a voice in her head replied drily.

The remaining male Seishi cringed. "Haven't you an illusion or something for your appearance?"

"I don't need to hide behind falsehoods," she returned.

'He's pretty good,' Shizue mused. 'There's probably no other guy besides Nakago who doesn't scream at the sight of her.' Females, on the other hand, tended to accept the woman's appearance with equanimity.

The girl suddenly became aware of her situation. Tomo still lay above her, draped like a veil over her half-naked body. She began to blush again.

"Enough with modesty, girl," Taiitsukun spoke, her voice oddly commanding despite its croaking quality. "There is a lot to be explained."

* * *

The three individuals looked at each other grimly. Two of them hovered, sitting on thin air. Shizue straddled her desk chair, dressed and starting to regain her equilibrium. The room was dark to give her parents the idea that she was asleep after she had refused to come out for dinner, claiming illness. In a hushed voice, Taiitsukun had explained how the barrier between the two worlds seemed to have been breached one time too many in all the happenings, with Tenkou and all. Now, it seemed like the worlds were merging, gradually overlapping so that people, events, and places from both were jumbled together. There was no telling how things would progress, and how they might end.

"The legend of the Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho has been mapped onto your world," the goddess told the girl. "A new set of Seishi have been born, not guided by the stars, but by the earth, by this world. You are one of those Terran Seishi, Shizue. You are Riyuko, the Seishi of Truth."

She blinked. This was definitely way too much to digest. "But what am I... what are _we_ supposed to do? Who are we supposed to protect? What are we supposed to summon?"

Taiitsukun pressed her lips into a line. "I do not know. Like anything in a system gone awry, the legend may be incomplete. However, if there is anyone who can restore the two worlds, it must be you," and she included Tomo in her gesture, "the Seishi of both worlds."

They looked at each other. Briefly, Shizue mused on the symmetry. Seishi of Illusion, Seishi of Truth? Someone out there had a twisted sense of humor.

"The threads of destiny are weak and tenuous," the old woman continued. "This was never meant to be. But you must do what you can, for the sake of all."

"I don't even know where to start," Shizue said, shaking her head.

A silence fell, as each of them tried to imagine what could be done as the world, so it seemed, slowly fell apart around them.

Suddenly, Shizue remembered an earlier conversation. "Taiitsukun, what was Nakago trying to do? I--I mean," she hurriedly went on, "I know what he wanted to do, but why? What did he mean by 'neutralize' me? And about being someone's vessel?"

"As the two worlds merge, so too can their Seishi. They can join in one body, sharing power and knowledge. But like a Miko of the Four Gods, one must be pure to accept the spirit of another. I cannot fathom why, but he clearly wished to prevent you from being able to merge with anyone."

"Do you think he knew something? To save the worlds, or to help destroy them, he must have had a reason and a basis for acting."

"Who can say?" It was Tomo who replied this time. "He'd never tell us, and we can hardly guess, so there's no sense in thinking about it."

"Hmm."

"In any case," said Taiitsukun, taking control of the discussion again, "you've already been given much to think about today. Rest. I will return tomorrow to give as much guidance as I can for your quest."

"Wait--quest?!" Shizue cried, but it was too late, the old woman had faded out. "Great," she muttered. "This is so not what I need in my life right now." She rubbed her eyes, elbows leaning on the chair back, wondering what in the world -- worlds -- she had been dragged into. She was beginning to fathom just a bit of Tomo's dislike for this thing called destiny.

Shizue didn't speak again until she had climbed into bed. Her mind was still racing, in such rapid circles that all she got out of it was nonsense. With an effort, though, she put aside the long list of questions she wanted to ask Taiitsukun, and instead picked up a different list.

"Where did you go?" she asked Tomo softly.

"To find answers."

"Did you?"

"I wonder."

"Hm?"

"I think," he clarified, "I found more questions than answers."

"It's always like that."

"Oh you don't know."

"So why did you come back?"

"I sensed a lot of _ki_ being focused through Nakago. For him to expend that much effort, you must be pretty strong, or will be." Tomo idly wondered if all of the Terran Seishi would be that powerful. It was a bit unsettling to imagine, especially if they didn't even have a well-defined purpose.

"I don't even know what I can do," Shizue protested.

"Don't worry, you'll figure it out. We always do. It's your strength of spirit that you've already demonstrated."

"Hm."

Shizue was quiet for a moment, listening to her parents talking in the living room, the drone of the nightly news barely audible beneath it. It wasn't all that late, and although she was mentally exhausted, she didn't think she was going to get much sleep after all the excitement.

"How did you discover _your_ powers?" she asked the Seiryuu Seishi.

"Huh?" Tomo was genuinely startled. No one had ever shown any curiosity about his background. He closed his eyes briefly, remembering. "I could show you," he said thoughtfully, fingering his Shin.

"But I thought your illusions didn't work on me."

"It will work on anyone if they don't resist it. Besides," he added, a sudden inkling of her powers coming to mind, "this is truth, not just an illusion."

"Mm," she nodded, seeing the conclusion he had reached.

"Remember, just don't resist," he said as he opened the clamshell.

Her vision misted white for a second, and when it cleared, she was running through a rustic village, past small huts and poorly dressed peasants. The view in front of her jarred up and down with the rhythm of her feet. She could hear her ragged breath in her ears, even feel the soreness in her feet and the burning in her lungs.

'Is this really just an illusion?' her mind wondered, impressed.

Tomo narrated quietly, his voice seemingly inside her head. _"I was never popular as a child, but that day I managed to make the other children particularly angry."_ He didn't explain why. _"I couldn't fight back, so I ran away."_

She turned down a narrow alley between two houses, searching frantically for a place to hide. Finally, she wedged herself between two stacks of baskets, probably used during the harvest. The shadows were heavy, but anyone paying attention as he walked down the alley would notice her.

Sure enough, she heard the others' voices in the street, at the head of the alley. From the footsteps, she could tell that they had split up to find her, two of them coming her way. She huddled down, pulling her head under her arms, as if that could somehow make her disappear. _"I just wished so hard for them not to see me..."_

The boy in the lead passed the first pile and turned to look into the gap. Their eyes met, but he didn't react. In fact, he seemed to be looking through her to the wall beyond. His eyes scanned down to the ground, where she had scuffled the dirt in crouching down.

"What are you doing?" The second boy had caught up. He gave the shadowed hiding place a cursory glance, then turned back to his companion. "What are you looking at? There's no one here. Come on, let's go."

Shizue felt her mouth fall open in shock. As the two boys' footsteps faded into the distance, so too did the vision.

She blinked. She was in her bed again, staring up at the ceiling.

"That was the first time," Tomo completed. "But I didn't really understand what had happened. I thought maybe I just had the ability to make myself invisible or something, but I could never make it work again. The time I finally figured it out was when--" He paused, wondering how much he was willing to share. Everything he was telling her had been kept secret for so long, and what was the point of bringing up the past now, anyway?

Shizue prompted, "When?"

"When I left a door open and didn't want people to notice. Like before, people _did_ notice, and said outright things that I knew weren't true." Just the relevant details. That was enough.

"I see." The girl could tell that this was a closed subject, and she didn't press.

She had simply be swamped with too much new information that day. All of her thoughts became like a soothing white noise, and she fell asleep even as she tried to remember more of the questions she had wanted to ask.

Tomo didn't bother to look over at her; by now he could tell she was asleep by her breathing. So this was what destiny had set him up for, he reflected. What a tangled web indeed. Of course he was no longer bound to stay, but he felt loath to leave her now, especially after having saved her, from a former comrade, no less. There would be no point to that exercise if he didn't follow up. He shook his head. How silly that destiny could make him stop blaming it and start blaming himself. But none of that changed the fact that he and this girl were now partners in saving the world.

* * *

"Shizue, are you feeling better? I made you breakfast."

She fought through her fragmented dreams towards that voice. When she finally woke up, her mother was at her bedside with a look of concern on her face. The smell of eggs and toast reminded her stomach that she hadn't had dinner the night before.

"Mm, yeah, I'm okay." She swallowed a few times to moisten her mouth, parched from sleep. "Thanks, Mom."

"Do take care of your health, dear. It wouldn't do to let it interfere with your schoolwork," the woman replied as she left, closing the door gently behind her.

Shizue groaned inwardly. Her parents had such one-track minds. For her, school was the last of her worries at the moment.

As if on cue, Tomo reappeared at that moment, accompanied by the ever imposing Taiitsukun. He was still wearing his face paint, which he hadn't removed after saving her from Nakago last night. Shizue wondered if she was the only person to whom he felt comfortable showing his natural face. For some reason, the idea made her feel shy and fluttery.

"I have something for you," Taiitsukun said, interrupting her thoughts. The old woman held out a round mirror the size of her palm, hanging by a loop of tasseled cord. "This will give you hints about the other Seishi." She anticipated the comment as Shizue opened her mouth. "Even if you don't yet know your purpose, the first objective is still to gather all of the Seishi."

The teenager grudgingly accepted the mirror, but protested, "I can't exactly wander around the country waiting for this thing to give me something."

"Of course not," Taiitsukun said, rather mildly. "The Terran Seishi are probably scattered throughout the world, and that mirror doesn't work by proximity."

"How _does_ it work?" Tomo asked with interest. He had never participated in gathering chosen warriors, and hadn't read of it as Shizue had.

"I'm not certain. But these kinds of objects tap into the web of destiny, so they know things I cannot. You must trust it to guide you in its own way. I do not think it will ask any impossibilities of you."

"Hmph." Shizue was still distrustful.

Tomo, hovering behind the girl, reached over her shoulder to finger the surface of the mirror. He jerked back when it flashed white, and then two characters appeared in its depth.

All three of them leaned in to see. The background was uninterrupted black. The first character was written plainly in a glowing red. _Chou_, stretch. The second was fainter and blurry, as if smudged, written in white. _Jutsu_, skill.

"As cryptic as ever," Shizue muttered under her breath. And then the familiarity of the first character struck her. "'_Chou_'?! But that can't be!"

  


To be continued...

  


The original characters and situations in this work are copyright Elwen Skye. Please ask permission before reposting anywhere. Thank you.

Elwen Skye   
quethiril@twin-elements.com   
www.twin-elements.com

  


**Notes:** Yes, I am aware of the fact that "Terran Seishi" is an oxymoron. Deal with it. Also, the "cliffhanger" at the end of this chapter is rather weak and not really intended to leave you desperate for the next chapter or anything. The situation just reminded me of how manga chapters will end with someone coming to a realization and saying, "_Masaka_...!"

**Finished:** September 2, 2003


	3. New Meets Old : A Showdown of Smarts

~ Fushigi Yuugi ~  
Twixt Earth and Sky

by Elwen Skye

**Disclaimer:** Fushigi Yuugi belongs to Yuu Watase, Flower Comics, Viz Comics, Pioneer, and probably a lot of other big companies. I make no claims of ownership on the series or its characters. I write this fanfic merely for personal enjoyment and the entertainment of others, no profit is derived.

**Warnings:** This story follows the anime storyline and includes spoilers for the entire TV series plus both OVAs.  
_O tanoshimi ni._

~ Chapter 3 ~

New Meets Old   
A Showdown of Smarts

Not much that belonged to Jonathan Hollande seemed anything special to look at, neither his appearance nor his lifestyle. What might have made someone interested was his bank account. Fulfilling the new-age American dream, he had made his money off of the stock market and kept it, through ulcer-inducing plunges and dizzying climbs upward.

Moreover, he didn't live like the millionaire he was. A few months ago, he had figured that he could live to sixty, barring any major contingencies, without ever having to work again. But the former computer programmer had no taste for luxury, so he kept his small but cozy apartment in Silicon Valley, the only change being to stock it with the fastest computers and the most up-to-date reference books about all things code.

It was the perfect life, he thought, as he leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the computer case. Who needed a giant house and a swimming pool, anyway?

A touch to his fancy ergonomic keyboard turned off the screensaver in front of him. "What shall we do today?" he asked aloud, even as he was already moving his cursor toward a specific folder. It was the project that had occupied most of his time for the past two weeks, testing the limits of his abilities: an artificial intelligence that could play go as well as the human experts. The goal had been long dreamed of by computer scientists, and at last the international go community was willing to recognize their efforts with a computer versus human tournament reminiscent of chess with Deep Blue. Jonathan's AI had done fairly well in the early eliminations, but by comparing its performance with his own skill, he doubted his current build had much of a chance against a professional.

The competition organizers had chosen three volunteers from among professional players, one each from China, Japan, and Korea. The three top-performing AIs would be randomly paired with a player and the programmer would be flown out to meet the opponent, like a proud owner showing off his thoroughbred. Programmers were allowed to refine their AIs up to the last minute, but to avoid cheating through tailoring the AI to respond to a certain style of play, the pairings would be kept secret. All the contenders knew was to reserve a certain weekend for the match. That was in a week, now, and Jonathan keenly felt the pressure that always resulted in his best work.

He checked over the code he had added the night before and decided it was time for him to play another test game.

* * *

Shizue and Tomo looked at each other in confusion. The mirror was providing guidance in its own cryptic way, much as Taiitsukun had said and Shizue had expected. 

"'_Chou_' means... Chiriko?" the girl asked. "So he knows where the next Terran Seishi is?"

"It seems that way," said Taiitsukun, pointing to the second character. "That is the symbol of Jiroku."

"But who knows where Chiriko is?"

"Don't look at me!" said Tomo. He turned to the old woman. "You are more closely connected to the Suzaku Seishi than I am. Can't you find them like you found us?"

Taiitsukun shook her head. "I cannot stay in this world for very long, at least not until the merging process has progressed a while longer. But I will try to narrow it down as much as I can while I am here. There is no more time for me to waste on discussion. I will send you to them, Tomo, as near as I can, when I must return to the World of the Four Gods."

And with that, she vanished.

Shizue sighed. "Let me guess, now I act normal for another week before something _else_ happens." She wondered how the heroines did it when she read about them. Didn't they ever rue the inconveniences it brought upon their lives to have to save the world? Where was the sense of fierce determination and duty that was supposed to keep her going? She was of the weaker brand, that only bemoaned, "Why me?"

"That's how it goes," Tomo murmured. "You wait for something to happen, wishing for the exact opposite. And you can't even enjoy those times when nothing happens, because you know that something _will_." He had taken off his make-up again as if to emphasize the (temporary) return to normalcy.

The Terran Seishi looked down at the mirror in her lap. "Somehow I get the feeling that next time I'll be doing more of the work." The characters had moved closer together, with the white one becoming less blurred. Jiroku, she mused, Seishi of _Jutsu_. She wondered what that meant.

"No sense worrying about it now." He offered her a smile that comforted her not at all.

* * *

Jonathan Hollande was losing and loving every moment of it. Because, really, it meant he had won. He was being beaten by his own creation, after all, and, far from being demoralizing, it was exhilarating. 

He had always known that his computers were smarter than he was, but this was different. This wasn't an inherent advantage, unlike their perfect memory, their processing power, their strict adherence to logic. This was _taught_, applied and victorious. However creative he tried to be, he could not overcome the AI. He had finally written a go program he couldn't beat.

The individual watching him could restrain himself no longer. "Play here, sir!" A small, translucent hand reached across his shoulder to point to a position on the screen.

He whirled around, and his voice caught in his throat.

At the same time, his silent spectator, a child no older than twelve, widened his eyes. "You are aware of me?"

"Wh-what the hell are you?" Jonathan asked, recovering his ability to speak.

The child overcame shock enough to sound offended. "I'm a person. But I died, so now I'm a spirit. My name is Ou Doukun, also known as Chiriko."

"Nice to meet you... Chiriko," the programmer said, opting for the simpler name. "I'm Jonathan Hollande. I don't normally see dead people."

"And I am not normally seen, Jonathan-san."

"So, um, not to sound rude, but if there's no particular reason you're here, I'd really feel more comfortable if you left." Jonathan tried to suppress the feeling of hysteria that grew out of the inanity of their exchange.

"I understand," the child answered, although he sounded rather wistful. Apparently the situation was not as disturbing to him as it was to the programmer. Rather than fade out, he drifted toward the hallway.

Jonathan's eyes immediately returned to the monitor, his gaze straying to the position Chiriko had indicated. It took him a moment to understand, but then it was as if everything suddenly fell into place. It was subtle, but brilliant.

"Wait."

Chiriko paused. "Yes?"

"Do you play?"

"Always, when I had the time for it." There was eagerness in his voice, but also regret.

He felt reluctant to ask the child to stay, who definitely gave him the creeps, but this was too much of an opportunity to pass up, and Jonathan Hollande always grabbed his opportunities. "Would you... mind... a match?"

For once Chiriko reflected his age as a smile of pure delight replaced the look of sagely wisdom and sadness he had worn since Jonathan set eyes on him. "I would be honored!"

And thus their match began. At first Jonathan had found it rather awkward, realizing that he'd have to place pieces for the both of them, but he got used to it. He could tell they were evenly matched, although of vastly different playing styles. Everything Chiriko did seemed to be prudent, perfectly thought out, just like his AI, except much wiser. Jonathan preferred to be tricky, not exactly to take risks, but to avoid the straightforward path. Everything his opponent did was, he thought, if not predictable, then completely sensible once played. He liked to keep people a bit confused and off-guard. Not that the child, whom he was quickly coming to see as a genius, was showing any signs of discomfiture. There was a look of concentration on his face, but his eyes seemed to sparkle with pleasure.

As the game progressed, Jonathan watched his opponent's moves more and more carefully, taking his pauses to think himself. Like his play against the AI, all of Chiriko's moves were subtle to discover, he realized, and he had trouble coming up with them as quickly as the child. Grudgingly, he admitted that he was probably looking defeat in the eye.

They continued, however, neither seeming to gain a real advantage over the other. Jonathan even wondered if the child-genius' level was completely incomparable to his own, and that he was merely being toyed with. And yet his opponent didn't seem like that kind of player.

It was dark when they finished the last local skirmish, fortified the final cracks in their walls, and passed their turns. They each skimmed the board silently, counting. It was far too close to call offhand, and Jonathan's heart fell when he reached the opposite edge. Was it going to come down to that?

Chiriko looked up with a smile. "It looks like I lost, Jonathan-san. By five points."

"But _komi_ is usually 5.5."

"_Komi_?" he asked.

"Don't you know? It's added to white's score, to compensate for the disadvantage of going second."

"Oh!" Understanding dawned in the child's eyes. "That makes a lot of sense. I'd never thought about it before." Then he smiled. "So we each think the other won. That means it was a very challenging game. Thank you very much."

"Don't mention it," Jonathan murmured. "I think I learned a thing or two."

"Um, Jonathan-san, I have a question."

"Yeah?"

"You were teaching that machine to play?"

He nodded.

"Why is that?"

The programmer grinned. "Because it's a huge challenge. Go is very abstract. It's hard to translate the game's principles into code that a computer can understand."

"'Computer'? Is that what that machine is called? But why do you have to put it in code?"

Jonathan frowned. "You don't know what a computer is? Where have you been?"

"I... I'm not from this world. I only came here today."

"Hm, then this could take more time to explain than I thought." And he launched into a speech, which clearly demonstrated his expertise, and his love of his subject, and his rare ability to make it comprehensible.

Another few hours had passed by the time he finished, having gone briefly over computer logic as well as most of his go algorithm. Chiriko had listened spellbound, never for moment paying less than rapt attention. Somehow, Jonathan felt he could trust this strange child of a ghost to actually understand what he was saying, and not just lead him along by smiling and nodding.

"So that's most of it, I guess. I hope I haven't bored you to de--uh, I hope I haven't been boring," he finished lamely.

"No, no, that was very interesting, Jonathan-san."

The twenty-one year old yawned and glanced at his watch. "Wow, it's late. Didn't feel like it. I guess I should go to bed." He paused. "Uh, do you need anything?" He wondered if ghosts slept, and if they needed beds.

"No, I'll be fine. Good night, Jonathan-san."

"G'night."

* * *

Chiriko stared at the go board after Jonathan left, running his intangible fingers over the stones. It had been a challenging game. Jonathan's style clearly incorporated more modern techniques than had been known in Chiriko's time. Watching him play the computer, Chiriko had felt more nostalgia than he had since re-awakening. By the time their own match had reached _chuuban_, he felt that all the theory of go he had once studied had returned to him and he was playing at his best. But he had still lost, at least in _his_ mind. _Komi_... Chiriko had never felt much of a disadvantage in playing white, but he had noticed many people at the court playing differently depending on color. The concept made a lot of sense, at least. Chiriko filed away the question of how large _komi_ should be for pondering at another time. 

Right now, his thoughts were most stimulated by Jonathan's AI. He stared at the board, replaying the game in his head. The computer screen had long since gone dark, but he could still remember all the positions. The flow of the two games was entirely different. The computer's moves were completely prudent, but as Jonathan had explained, could not reproduce the intuition of a human player. It seemed like a shame, that such amazing ability to read ahead should fail for lack of insight. If one could combine the computer's caution with Jonathan's flamboyant style...

Chiriko reviewed what Jonathan had explained about coding. It was like teaching a person to play, except the computer could only think in absolutes, and would always do exactly what it was told. There was no room for the sudden inspirations that had led to the development of new patterns. But Chiriko had never given up on a pupil before, and he had taught many courtiers to play go. Some of them _had_ always taken him completely literally and never deviated from his advice. Now he was teaching an advanced player that needed to learn flexibility, as described by absolute rules. He was sure it could be done. Kneeling before the go board again as if he were still playing, he began placing imaginary stones, ignoring the real ones, and imagining how Jonathan's computer would respond. He mouthed the advice he would give, stopping at intervals to translate all he had said into something the programmer might be able to use.

He was going to teach the computer how to beat them both.

* * *

Jonathan wandered into his "living study", as he called it -- the living room converted into a roomy computer study, with plenty of floor space left over. For things like playing go with a spirit, apparently. 

He set down the bagel he had grabbed from the kitchen. In yesterday's excitement, he had forgotten about dinner, although his stomach was used to his erratic eating habits.

"Good morning, Chiriko."

The spirit was still there. Jonathan had hoped he would wake up to find it all a dream, and, failing that, half-hoped that Chiriko would have left in the night, never to be heard from again. Now the programmer felt bad for wishing him gone. The child was obviously lonely, and Jonathan, being the only one who could see him, seemed to be the only person who could relieve that feeling somewhat.

"Good morning, Jonathan-san!"

The programmer was somewhat taken aback by the child's eager tone, as if he had been waiting all night just for him to wake up so they could spend more time together.

"Uh... you look like you had a good night." Jonathan had more social skills than the average computer geek, but dealing with spirits wasn't really in his realm of experience.

"I figured it out!"

"F-figured out what?"

"How to teach the 'computer' to play go like we do."

"That's gr--wait, what?" Was this what the child had spent the night thinking about? Well, Jonathan supposed there were worse ways to pass time.

"It's like this," Chiriko said excitedly, waving Jonathan towards the board. He pointed out a few of last night's positions, explaining how they could be handled by complicated algorithms. He soon moved on to other situations, which Jonathan obediently laid out for him, spellbound by the child-genius' ability to grasp in one night concepts he was sure it'd taken him months to master. Once, Jonathan moved to type things up before he forgot it all, but Chiriko insisted that he was only running through preliminary ideas that still needed Jonathan's feedback and approval. They did get into arguments about how to implement certain strategies and principles, but by lunch time they had worked out a much-improved version of Jonathan's AI.

"You're amazing, Chiriko," he murmured in awe. "How could you pick up all this programming so easily?"

The child averted his eyes modestly. "I spend too much time on academics. I'm not good for much else."

"This kind of thing is good for plenty," Jonathan insisted. "This AI'll blow all the rest out of the water. We'll totally win the competition now. ...ah, I'm not sure how I can credit you for all your help. It's practically _your_ program now."

"Not at all, Jonathan-san. If it wasn't for the foundation you laid, I wouldn't have been able to figure anything out, and you were the one who taught me how 'computers' think."

Jonathan grinned. "I guess you're as modest as you're smart. Okay, I won't try to give you all the credit. But I still think you're amazing."

Before they could continue, a third voice reached their ears. "I hate to interrupt this lovely conversation you're having, but I have some important things to tell you," it said smoothly.

They both turned to see a figure dressed in a fantastic costume, with long black hair and a painted face that hid the person's gender.

"Tomo!"

Jonathan was surprised to see Chiriko's tense expression.

"That would be me," the intruder said dryly.

"I'm guessing you two know each other," Jonathan said, hoping to diffuse a situation that looked like it could turn ugly.

"Why yes," Tomo answered, before Chiriko could say anything. "We used to be enemies, but if you will listen to my information, you'll see that we're stuck on the same side this time."

"Why don't we hear him out, Chiriko?"

"As you deem prudent, Jonathan-san. I would guess this matter revolves around you, given that you can see both of us."

"Clever as ever, Chiriko," Tomo said silkily. Jonathan thought he could see the hackles rising from the child's neck. "Did you spend a lot of time thinking last night? It was pretty easy to find this place with all the _ki_ you were exuding."

"Please tell us, _Tomo_, what reason you had for seeking us."

"Alright, you can have the short version. You," he pointed at Jonathan, "are a Terran Seishi, a warrior chosen to save the world. Our world, which once existed within a book, is currently merging with yours. We, the Seishi of our world, and you, along with others like you, get to fix the mess. Another of the Terran Seishi, Riyuko, is waiting to meet you in Japan."

Both Chiriko and Jonathan were too shocked to speak for a long time.

Chiriko found his voice first. "Jonathan-san is a seishi!"

"I'm a _what_?"

"Like I said," Tomo continued calmly. "You are a Terran Seishi. You probably have some kind of ability, although it may not have awakened yet. Your Seishi name is Jiroku."

"And... just what the hell am I supposed to do, now?" Jonathan's pitch rose with each word.

Tomo shrugged. "We don't really know either. But Taiitsukun said we should start by gathering the Terran Seishi, at least."

"You've spoken with Taiitsukun?" Mention of the deity's name seemed to dispel Chiriko's antagonism.

"I haven't the _faintest_ clue what either of you are talking about," Jonathan interjected.

Tomo tone varied for the first time. "That's why I didn't want to deal with the explanations," he muttered, half to himself. "I doubt it'll be any clearer unless you just come talk to Riyuko."

"Like hell," Jonathan said. "I'm not going anywhere."

The Seiryuu Seishi shrugged. "Suit yourself. Now that I know where you are, it's no problem to return here again. I'll just go tell Shizue -- that would be Riyuko's original name -- that I found you. I'm sure we'll meet again." He tossed a small white object at Chiriko. "We'll be in touch." His final words were accompanied by an overbearing smile.

And with that, he was gone.

To be continued...

The original characters and situations in this work are copyright Elwen Skye. Please ask permission before reposting anywhere. Thank you.

**Notes: **Much apologies if this chapter seems forced or contrived. That's probably me writing of things about which I know nothing. Of course, the idea of playing go with a spirit is blatantly taken from Hikaru no Go, but I'd like to think I added some new dimension to it, too.

**Finished:** August 10, 2006


End file.
